Thursday, February 03, 2005

Not sure if those reading this have heard, but there is a professor at Univ. Colorado named Ward Churchill who has recently been stirring up quite a nice little sh*tstorm over his proposed lecture. The storm is a product of peoples reactions to an essay he penned the day after the 9/11 attacks in which he accused the victims of not really being victims......no really- observe-

"Let’s get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire — the “mighty engine of profit” to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved — and they did so both willingly and knowingly. Recourse to “ignorance” — a derivative, after all, of the word “ignore” — counts as less than an excuse among this relatively well-educated elite. To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and consequences to others of what they were involved in — and in many cases excelling at — it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I’d really be interested in hearing about it."

"Little Eichmans"????? How about the janitors and cafeteria workers Professor Churchill? Were they also part of the technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire?

Well, Professor Churchill was supposed to headline a discussion at Hamilton College, and he has since declined. There is discussion to remove his tenure now and force him out of CU.

I think this is wrong. He has obviously exposed himself as a great jackass. His attitudes are quite distasteful in my opinion. But attempting to de facto censor him would have worse implications than allowing him to further expose himself as the jackass he is. And he would probably use his censure as a springboard to further his agenda. And from reports through a Boulder related friend of mine, Professor Churchill had his car swastiked this morning, and receives almost daily email and verbal abuse.

My question to our buddy Ward- If you hate this place so damn much that you cheer when hard working people are brutally murdered for no good reason, why the hell are you still living here?

The American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council representing the National and International leadership of the American Indian Movement once again is vehemently and emphatically repudiating and condemning the outrageous statements made by academic literary and Indian fraud, Ward Churchill in relationship to the 9-11 tragedy in New York City that claimed thousands of innocent people’s lives.

Churchill’s statement that these people deserved what happened to them, and calling them little Eichmanns, comparing them to Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who implemented Adolf Hitler’s plan to exterminate European Jews and others, should be condemned by all.

The sorry part of this is Ward Churchill has fraudulently represented himself as an Indian, and a member of the American Indian Movement, a situation that has lifted him into the position of a lecturer on Indian activism. He has used the American Indian Movement’s chapter in Denver to attack the leadership of the official American Indian Movement with his misinformation and propaganda campaigns.

Ward Churchill has been masquerading as an Indian for years behind his dark glasses and beaded headband. He waves around an honorary membership card that at one time was issued to anyone by the Keetoowah Tribe of Oklahoma. Former President Bill Clinton and many others received these cards, but these cards do not qualify the holder a member of any tribe. He has deceitfully and treacherously fooled innocent and naïve Indian community members in Denver, Colorado, as well as many other people worldwide. Churchill does not represent, nor does he speak on behalf of the American Indian Movement.

New York’s Hamilton College Kirklands Project should be aware that in their search for truth and justice, the idea that they have hired a fraud to speak on Indian activism is in itself a betrayal of their goals.

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About Me

Tennessee Southern Yankee Blog with spiritual, political, philosophical and irrelevant opinion. Also including occasional Tennessee Titans, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Nashville Predators comments, along with whatever else I'm pondering..And I freak out about Asteroids hitting the planet every once in a while. So you've been warned......"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." ... --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of DEC 1977